"The sexual tension's so thick, you could cut it with a blunt stick! C'mon. Screw already."

Marluxia's head jerked up from the report he was looking over as he walked down a hall and glanced up to Xigbar--up on the ceiling. "Excuse me?"

"Dude, no shame. Just stick it in already. everybody already knows you and Vexen all like...secretly gay for each other." Xigbar flipped over, landing on the floor beside number Eleven.

"Maybe it is for him..." Marluxia smirked slightly at the freeshooter, "However the feeling's not mutual."

"Eh-- Just keep tellin' yourself that, man." Xigbar gave a shrug, grinning. "Even still, you guys need to get over yourselves and fuck. Don't knock it 'til you've tried, it, dude."

Marluxia's expression fell flat, then quickly shifted to a sly smirk, his voice rich with playful teasing, "Ah, you just want us to do it so you can watch, mmn? Or maybe Luxord talked you into selling a tape of us for a little extra pocket money."

"Not really, dude. Just a friendly suggestion. S'my job to make sure people around here don't go batshit crazy." --which it wasn't. But he liked to think that it was. It gave him the jurisdiction to bug people more than he already did. "Plus, Luxord's busy enough as it is between Port Royal and Nine to want to videotape you and Ice Princess playing doctor between the sheets."

Vexen had been minding his own business, striding through one of the main halls, somewhere thereabouts of the fourth floor. He'd been on his way to show the Superior his new findings in darkness manipulation and replication when he'd heard voices ahead, just around a corner. Now, in any other situation, Vexen would have proceeded onward. Only this time...he heard his name (or something resembling).

Vexen hid himself along a wall behind a column, sneaking along, using the others as a shield from the sight of the two speakers. With a wide column separating him from the conversation, he eavesdropped with relative ease.

Marluxia chuckled softly, putting his hand on Xigbar's shoulder, "I was joking."

Marluxia? Vexen pressed his back a little firmer against the column.

"--but anyway, I wouldn't have any problem with number four if he wouldn't keep finding ways to torment me. It seems every time I get to the point of just letting things be and recover, something new happens in an endless cycle. Besides, he's not my type."

Xigbar elbowed the other playfully. "C'mon--" For Vexen, this voice was obviously Xigbar's. The accent was impossible to misplace. "Flowers and formaldehyde! It's a match made in heaven!"

"Flowers and... Seriously Xigbar, that the best you can come up with?" Number eleven grinned broadly, punching the other lightly on the shoulder, seeming to be dropping his guard, though in his mind was still leery of him -- despite knowing it had to have been Vexen the second time, the other members were still a possibility for the invasion in the first instance. And now? Now he was gathering information, "And just how are Flowers and Formaldehyde a match made in heaven now?"

"Hell if I fuckin know." he laughed. "It sounded good--alliteration and all that kinda shit." Xigbar said, waving a hand around. "Xaldin's the planner. I shoot as I go. But hey--makes things less predictable and more fun, eh?"

Marluxia snorted in laughter, "If you say so, Number Two. But if your going to try and play match maker, you'll need a little more evidence then just Flowers and Formaldehyde sounding good together."

"Eh, I'd give you the full story--" he said, a devious glint in his visible eye. "--but that'd ruin the whole fun in getting there, right? I can't just put it all out in the open for you. Whatever happened to the love of the chase?"

Marluxia raised a single eyebrow, smirking, "I think somewhere between his waking me up at two am, singing drunkenly outside my room and him burying my hairbrushes in the garden."

"Your hairbrushes, huh? Bummer, man. But me--if I were you, I'd think all that shit as like...you know how on playgrounds little bratty boys'll throw dirt and poke the girls with sticks 'cause they like em? Yeah--it's sorta like that." he said with a nod, looking quite sure of himself. But unlike Vexen, Xigbar was indeed the opportunist, and as far as attraction went--it sometimes skewed the way he saw things.

Shaking his head, Marluxia points at the center of Xigbar's forehead with a chuckle, "If that's the case then he's the one you should be telling to lighten up and think about it." He laughs, "And just keep him from constantly being on my case about things and I'm sure I will be able to settle back into being able to.. Hmn... Respect him, I guess."

Vexen couldn't breath. His heart pounded, body frozen to the spot. Marluxia had...respected him?

"Nn nn--" Xigbar shook his head. "Man, I'm just the messenger. Gotta put you kids on the right track. Like I said--you two do the leg work. Makes the reward all that sweeter. Trust me, dude. Okay?" Now, contrary to popular belief, sometimes, Xigbar actually knew what the fuck he was talking about. And for this particular instance, he was dead on. --at least about the 'do it the fuck yourself' part. The part about Vexen playing schoolboy-crush...the jury was still out for that one.

Marluxia waved a hand as he walked, still chuckling at the very idea, "Sure, whatever, Xigbar. Maybe the next time."

It was impossible for Vexen to concentrate--not with yesterday's words hanging over him... He'd taken multiple breaks already, pacing, reading, and now--snacking. In the kitchen, Vexen had fixed himself a mug of hot tea and a sandwich, in hopes that it would settle his stomach and his nerves.

Respect...Marluxias had respected him...and now it's lost it all...oh--this was just--! --it all just made for one very distraught Vexen.

Elsewhere, Marluxia grumbled under his breath and scratched wildly at his head, his voice muttering softly as he wandered through the halls, "Was Xigbar even thinking earlier? Seriously, "Flowers and.. Ugh."

Despite his calm and collected departure, it had gotten to him, and was making him as skittish as a long tailed cat at a rocking chair factory, What if Vexen is REALLY doing this because of some sort of... Childish... Crush? Ugh, best not to think of it.

He took a deep breath, returning to his normal bored expression before turning the corner as he headed for the kitchen.

At the same time, Vexen turned to leave out of the kitchen, and found that running into people also made for a very distraught Vexen--or at the very least, an angry one. Luckily though, he didn't drop his mug--though his sandwich hit the floor when his hand went to his nose...

"Ah! That HURT! Watch where you're going!"

Marluxia took a stumble back, his hand going to his eye with a hiss, his forehead red and sore under his bangs from the good knock he got, "Same goes to you..."

He froze as he recognized the voice, and blinked the pain away, trying to remain calm as he stood up straight, his eye watering and red from the poke the Frigid number Fours nose, "Ah... Vexen..."

What does one say to a man your superior insists is trying to get into your pants?

And Vexen fumbled, his mug dropping as well, splashing the front of the other's coat quite nicely with the hot liquid. "Eleven!" The mug shattered upon impact, shards skidding across the floor. Vexen backpedaled a step, a corner of his lips drawing back into a worried grin. "Ah--what are you doing here, Eleven? Shouldn't you, ah--be on patrol now?"

Marluxia backpedaled quickly, pottery crunching under his boots as he brushed the hot liquid from his front before it could seep in through the zipper, actually grateful for the distraction, "Four... I understand we don't--" He looked up and froze once more as his gaze hit the other mans face.

The flushing. The stuttering. The heavy cloud of pure and untainted AWKWARD that coated the entire moment. Number Eleven's face fell slightly, his eyes wide, Oooooooooooooooh crap. Xigbar was right... He's... Vexen. Schoolyard. Poking. Crush. Aaah, what do I do?!

The Graceful Assassin turned quickly away from Vexen and cleared his throat, making it deepen, ignoring his stomach's pleading for food, "I am supposed to be heading out in a few minutes... But I should get it done early."

Vexen was stuck there for a moment amongst the broken shards of mug, the forgotten sandwich, and the mess of tea--his feet utterly uncooperative. A minute passed, then two.

Panicked, Marluxia quickly portaled away from the big garbled mess, his heart thudding in his throat like a caged beast struggling to claw its way free.

Marluxia had been right there...and he hadn't been able to say a thing.

It was immediate frustration that stormed Vexen out of the room, hands clenched into fists. It was anger, bubbling from the inside out that froze Demyx to the wall as he passed the Neophyte by in the halls. And it was desperation that locked him in his labs to work with a renewed fervor. Hour and hours--days even. No one saw the man. Not Zexion. Not Lexaeus. No one.

"He'll respect me!" Vexen laughed sharply, a spark in madness seeded in his bright green eyes. "I'll come up with something so utterly brilliant, he'll have to recognize me again!"

But things...were not looking up. Of all things desperation would drive a man to nothing good. In fact, the only thing he was getting was wore down, exhausted...and prone to make mistakes.

Things would not go well...

Things had not been going well at all for the fourth member of the organization. Overworked and under-rested, the disaster which was so obvious to occur...did. A replication experiment with the heartless went awry, and they all broke out, freeing a good deal of the other experiments as well (spare for a poor faun in Vexen's care, who continued to curse his existence here in this wretched basement laboratory.)

But slowly...slowly things would come together again. With the help of Xigbar and Zexion, Vexen managed to re-trap most of the heartless, though a few that hid themselves well, got away. When they'd left and he'd cleaned the place up proper, Vexen returned to his room and the moment he'd dressed for bed, collapsed to it, and passed out all too happily. Sleep...yes...a friend missed.

Things were not looking up for Number Eleven, either. Paranoia ran deep in his mind, and the seeds of the events leading up to their last encounter had sprouted, sending deep rooted Terror in his mind, Vexen had been breaking into my room, my garden, leaving things and taking things at will. Sometimes right under my nose... He could get me at any time, drug me...

Marluxia paced in his room, then spun around, Wait... If he knows where I am then... He could have planted a tracker in my uniform! Or... I could have ingested...it..

This went on for days. While Marluxia tried to keep the mask of control on while he was out with the others, there was no hiding the fact he had stopped eating and had started to drink from the faucets, and never the same one twice. Everything had a trap in it, every noise was Vexen.

All the while his brain created ways the scientist could use his traid to overpower him, how to keep him under his control. Visions of being strapped to lab tables or locked in cages haunted him. Nights had become sleepless, his mind in utter chaos. After two weeks in terror of the scientist lurking in every shadow and... Frustration? Something had to give.

Marluxia stripped out of his coat, and left it in his garden before porting to his room so he would be away from whatever tracker Vexen had planted. He sat down slowly into his bed and covered his face with his hands. He then lifted his head, looking at the tremble that had developed in his body, Something has to be done. I need to get back in control... His eyes darted up, his heart thudding wildly in his chest, I have to face him.

Not thinking straight, he portaled into Vexen's lab, looking around wildly, "Vexen!"

The labs were dark, no sign of the scientist. Only the experiments sounded tiredly in response.

Marluxia shook his head, his eyes wild, his movements jerky. He then portaled to Number Fours room, THERE! Sleeping... How can that bastard sleep knowing... Nnnaah!

Like a large cat, he sprung into the air, and grabbed Vexen's hands as he landed, pinning them to the bed as the skid upwards, his back legs following behind and trapping one leg between them. His body arched away from him, his face next to the scientist ear, his lips lightly brushing the lobe as he hissed softly, his voice soft and low as he panted, "What do you want from me? What do you want?! I'm tired of waiting for the attack, so here I am. Now."

It seemed that Vexen was destined for consciousness--as Marluxia jumped him and made Vexen jump (as best he could under the other) and the mattress creak unhappily at the sudden jolt.

"W-what the--?!" He struggled, trying to twist his way out from under Marluxia, though with little progress.

"There is no attack, you fool!" Vexen hissed, squirming and glaring at the other. "U-unhand me!!" he shouted, cheeks flushed--half from the sheer surprise of it all, and half for the fact that Marluxia was so close to him!

"Then what do you WANT from me?" Marluxia's grip tightens as he frowns slightly, his eyes narrowing, "And then what the hell do you keep getting so flustered about?" He loosened his grip on the scientists wrists, relaxing slightly and glanced away, "Did Xigbar try to get into your head as well? Or..." Suddenly he looked at Vexen right in the eyes, and his grip tightened again, the sanity slowly returning to his eyes, "You were listening in when Xigbar cornered me..."

"That's none of your--" and then Marluxia caught him. Fuck. "You--knew I was..." With such wide-eyes he looked like a animal caught under a spotlight. "Well, yes--I heard a few choice things but--that's got nothing to do with--" But it did. And Vexen wasn't confessing anytime soon.

The man with the pink hair's shoulders tightened, the leg between Vexen's, straddling the thigh to keep the other man pinned, moving closer as he snarled, looking like a panther ready to strike, "What did you hear?" His grip tightened as he scooted even further up the mans thigh, trying to look larger then he was and make up for the slight height difference, no longer focused on what he had been fearing for over a week, "What did you hea-- Ah..."

A grin crossed his face, his voice soft as he smiled, "...Respect. That's why you've been hiding more so then usual, why I've been finding your experiments hiding in my room. You've been trying to get it back. Right..?"

"Never--" Vexen hissed, muscles tense and sharp green eyes narrowed. "Why in the name of-- why the hell would I need something like that from you of all-- filthy, disgusting--" The room was getting colder. No...it was freezing. "I'm leaving you alone because I don't give a damn about you!" The bed felt like a block of ice...and as Vexen continued, the element itself rose up, quickly encasing Marluxia's ankles and feet--creeping up his calves.

Vexen smirked, giving a haunting little chuckle. "In my lab, in my bed now... I've left you alone. Why can't you do the same?!"

Marluxia shivered and portaled away, the last thing being swallowed by the shadows being the smirk crossing his lips as a few stray sakura petals flutter and fade into nothing on Vexen's bed.

Marluxia was gone... The ice ebbed away, but even with the room warm again, a cold chill ran down Vexen's spine. Marluxia had been in his room, touching him, staring into him practically... He'd called Vexen out and been right. And Vexen...he hadn't been able to put up a facade, couldn't smirk, couldn't tell him he'd been completely and utterly...correct... He shuddered. Even alone, he felt completely cornered--desperate, even. What move could be make next? What could he do? Where could he go? He couldn't even bring himself to return to his lab--not now...not after all of this.

He would go...someplace...cold perhaps. Someplace he could think without distraction--without worry. It took some will to keep still and not curl up on himself. But slowly... slowly, wisps of darkness would form under him--licking upwards. He sunk down into the forming portal and out of sight.

Out of sight. Out of mind. He'd be gone for days. he had a strategy to formulate.